good morning, america. breaking news. the day the earth shook. a massive 8.9 earthquake strikes japan and the pacific, creating a gigantic tsunami, wiping out entire cities and islands. look at these incredible pictures of the giant wave as it rushes inland. killing hundreds. a japanese train along the coast that's totally disappeared. and north of tokyo. tsunami warnings around the

around and our west coast. this is a special edition of "good morning america." disaster in the pacific. good morning to all the viewers in the west. the earthquake that hit japan overnight is devastating. the largest ever in japan. 1,000 times more powerful than the one that hit a couple week ago. >> you are looking at pictures the tsunami. wiping our entire trains we're told have been swept away. we're hearing reports of big boats with as many as 100 passengers on board swept aboard. and several hundred people are reported dead but we are hearing reports of thousands upon thousands missing perhaps dead as well. the japanese coast guard is searching for ship with 80 people onboard. and other rode waves into cities slamming into overpasses as you see there. >> state of emergency in japan. they are concerned about the

nuclear power plant. the fail-safe mechanisms did not work. of that's heating up right now. let's listen to what it felt and sounded like. it's something. [ random background noise ] >> the quake was off northeastern japan. the violent tremors were felt all the way to tokyo for 30 minutes, george. after the quake stopped. the quake lasted five entire minutes. 30 minutes later, buildings in japan were still in flames. >> and the tsunami waves washed into hawaii two hours ago. under tsunami warnings right now. waves triggered by the quick expected to reach the west coast

in just about an hour. >> let's go to bill weir on the santa monica coast. right now. waves expected to hit about 8:00 pacific time. >> reporter: good morning, about 8:23 to be exact the waves should hit here in southern california. but there's cautious optimism that the waves will be measured in inches rather than feet. they're closing down beaches from orange county. and things intensify as we go north. the city of san francisco activated their alarms in the wee hours last night. but it's really more weighing on the minds of southern californians as a perfect day begins as to what a devastating earthquake looks like. of course, tokyo, one of the more stringent building codes in the world. a lot of people in los angeles care very much about how much that protected them going forward. there's a nuclear power plant just south of us here. that will probably weigh heavier

on the minds of californians today than any threat of tsunamis. but we're keeping our eyes on the waters just to be safe. and any fishermen boaters, surfers hoping to brag about tsunami surfing will be chased out of the water, elizabeth. >> thank you very much. in tokyo, it's the middle of the night. we want to bring juju in now. several thousand missing but that number is going to climb. >> absolutely. we're getting reports from the kyodo agency of 88,000 people. there's 1,300 miles of coast lan affected. we've got apocalyptic images. take a look at this. entire communities on fire. burning unabated. in addition, we're got images of flooding that is happening

dramatically throughout the country. it lasted five minutes compare that to north ridge in l.a. which lasted 20 seconds. >> reporter: the largest earthquake in japan's recorded history hit at 2:46 in the afternoon local time. what followed was this wave of destruction. a tsunami 23 feet high, sweeping away everything in its path. watch here as boats are swept away in seconds. then cars tossed around like toys. and massive debris fields surging across villages hit by a wall of water. at least 300 bodies were found along the coast. there are reports a ship carrying 100 people being swept to sea. stunning images of this giant whirlpool just off the coast, sucking up everything in its midst. waves of thick, muddy water swept over farmlands. whole towns inundated.

huge swaths of these family farms likely destroyed for years. flames shot out this oil refinery killing at least 100 people. homes were burning out of control. flames floating on water due to ruptured gas lines. 4 million on fire. they declared a state of emergency at the nuclear power plant. although no radiation has leaked, nearly 3,000 people around the mravplant were evacu. japan's prime minister addressed the nation and insisted the nuclear plants are safe. >> translator: some of the nuclear power plants have stopped automatically, but so far no radioactive material or radiation has been confirmed to have leaked to the outside. >> reporter: in tokyo, 240 miles away, violent shaking. crowds of people rushing out of office buildings.

an entire passenger train near tokyo, missing with dozens on boards. 80 aftershocks have been reported above 5.0 magnitude. one of them a 7.1. this newsroom shaking in chaos. a meeting of government ministers looking up in shock. witnesses shooting video with their cell phones. >> it was absolute panic. the earthquake lasted a total of four or five minutes it seemed like there it was something of being in a trash can with a baseball bat. >> reporter: airports closed. and stranded in train stations across japan because of the subways and arteries and historic chaos. you can see all of these images are jaw dropping. i want to share two images with you. one is of the tsunami come ago shore, unleashing that great

energy. you can see the planes, the toys, the energy that is unleashed with all of these. >> the airplanes you say, you mean, looking like toys? >> absolutely. >> and tiny cars? >> tossed about like they're toys. and the biggest problem that we're looking at today are the nuclear power facilities. the four closest ones near the epicenter have been shut down. >> they have declared what they call a nuclear emergency. martha raddatz tells us even though japanese officials are presenting a calm front, they are in fact very worried about this. >> they are. there's one plant that's experiencing mechanical difficulties in the backup. electricity is out throughout the country. as a result, they're worried about continuing to cool the reactors which will continue to heat. >> they have pointed out that it is continuing to heat. that's the real worry. >> it's built for an earthquake, but not one this big. of course, we've got buoys

throughout the ocean keeping track of the tsunami as it makes its way past japan on to the pacific. s sam champion is tracking all of that. the areas are northern california, the states of oregon and washington, right? >> that's right, elizabeth. the possibility of the first waves hit the west coast. every one of the tsunami buoys, there are 40 of them ringing the pacific ocean, every one touched by the energy of the tsunami is lit up on the screen, can you see it goes from australia, all the way around alaska to the aleutians. this is about 330 miles off the coast of oregon there. you can see the buoy in l.a. not being triggered yet but the flash of the water underneath there. let's track exactly what's going on as we watch this system move through hawaii and all the way through california. the next hit on the california

coastline is generally 7:00 to 9:00 pacific coast time. if you get into a bay area, you might get big boat damage here. along the coastline it might not be as bad. we'll quickly show you what happened in hawaii. we've gotting a two-foot rise. we will, by the way, the report of an ocean pullout here several hundred feet. a two or four-foot rise of water here. maui at six foot. he hilo on the east about 2 or 3 feet. george? >> okay. we'll get more from brian shiro at the pacific tsunami warning center. thanks for joining us. the waves have passed through hawaii. sam showed us the buoys. what can you tell us about the state of the tsunami right now? >> yes, the tsunami passing through hawaii right now, the

first key waves, every island in the state. a tsunami is a series of waves so we'll be seeing the waves for at least the next couple of hours. and it's on its way to the west coast next. >> as it heads to the west coast, is it picking up power, losing power, what can we pick? >> well, it's losing power. but the tsunami is pretty efficient. it doesn't actually lose that much as it's traveling fast in the deep water. it grows in height. >> we saw at that initial reports in hawaii show a rise on waikiki beach. some waves, 1 1/2 to 3 feet. what kind of levels do you expect when this hits california, washington, oregon? >> well so far, the erosion is actually matching the models pretty well, at least 6 feet. in fact the gauge was clipped so it might have been more. the models, if you believe them,

it suggests in california, some models would be 6 feet, as much as 9 feet. so we have pretty good confidence this will be that in some of the places. >> what kind of damage could that cause? >> well, it could certainly be a bad day for anybody on the beach. that's white beaches shore cleared. if have any property on the coast, that could be damaged as well. if you have a house on the water as well, your first floor could get flooded. >> and what about -- i know at that warning was lifted for guam. what about some of the other countries that might be affected? which areas are in most danger? >> areas in most danger, hawaii where the tsunami is currently, as well as the whole west coast, north america, from alaska, california, new mexico. the countries south america, and the central pacific countries as well. most of the tsunami energy is actually being directed towards the east, just towards the north

coast of the west. >> thank you very much. >> we're going to turn to our physicist dr. michio kaku. you said they're difficult to predict but they move fast, first of all, the speed of a jet line er? >> that's right. up to 700 miles. we've been tracking these for decades since the 1960s. we have sonar waves sensing what is happening. that's where you get accurate predictions. we've been preparing for this moment. >> it isn't just one wave. in fact it could be a series of waves hitting the west coast throughout the day? >> that's right. when the earthquake happened, it happened over a very long area. perhaps hundreds of miles long in the crack in the surface of the earth. so you have not just one wave, several waves. the waves get reflected and wrap around the hawaiian islands. >> we talked about the giant

whirlpool. when you talk about the cracks in the earth, you say that giant whirlpool off the coast of japan was caused by cracks in the ocean floor? >> two possibilities. these are called eddy currents. these can collide, causing eddy currents. or a crack also creating eddy currents. these things are found in tsunamis. >> you brought a good model here. we want to talk about the dangerous reactor in japan that may be heating right now. this is your version. tell us what may be going on inside? >> well, this is the uranium core. we're talking about 100 tons of uranium dioxide that is super hot that has to be cooled at all times. here's the danger. we have an emergency cooling system, a backup system that dumps water in case of emergency. it's not working. lights are out. electricity is out. there's a danger if something were to happen like what

happened at three mile island, then the backup system is not going to work. and at three mile island, we all saw what happened, perhaps 90% of the core was destroyed. within 30 minutes of a class 9 meltdown at three mile island. >> what do they do if the backup system isn't working? how do they cool the core down? >> that's the problem. we have two layers of defense. one is to shoot it into the reactor, like brakes on a car. the second is the fail safe. but the fail-safe system seems to be failing. the prime minister is putting on a good face. meanwhile, everybody behind him is hoping there's no cracks or leaks. >> we should reminds viewers in the face of this nuclear emergency, thousands of people in and around this plant have been evacuated. >> up to 1 1/2 kilometers, almost a mile have been evacuated as a precaution.

>> when will we know if radiation is leaking out? >> radiation is damage to the core itself. that's quite serious. at three mile island within hours of the accident, radiation sensors picked up radiation coming out. so far, we'll keep our fingers crossed. but we're worried. >> we'll be checking with you throughout the morning. we said earlier the place to worry the most about the tsunami warning is northern california, the state of washington, state of oregon. head to kgho is out there at the beach. good morning, amy. >> reporter: good morning, elizabeth. this is the lowest point in san francisco. anyone who has visited here has probably eaten at the cliff house. just down the road from that famous restaurants. this road is the great highway and it's closed. ocean beach is closed. it's very quiet out here, except for the police presence. there's an officer right there. they are heavily patrolling this area. they're talking to people and telling them about the warning.

telling them they're here at their own risk. they can't close the area to pedestrians. they're being overly cautious and communicative. we saw people jogging out here, they're not too worried. we've also seen people who have headed to higher ground. they are staying in constant communication with the experts who watch the ocean and reassessing the situation every 30 minutes. and the mayor has scheduled a press conference for the next 30 minutes. they don't expect it to be dire out here but in a precautionary mode. >> good mode to be in. amy, keep us posted on what the mayor has to say. george, it seems the area of greatest concern is in and around the area of monterey bay. >> as we go back to japan,

savaging overnight, japanese reporters described the entire scene from their offices. take a look. >> reporter: let's go back to what happened about 20 minutes ago in the sendai newsroom. this is what it looked like earlier on. this is what miso looked like in tokyo. monitors fall be off. cabinets falling. it looks like a tsunami has been engulfing, engulfing the port. you're seeing live footage of a tsunami engulfing the port area of iwate prefecture. they've issued a tsunami after six meets deep. this is what's happening right as we speak. you saw our camera reporter in miyagi. and it looks like the tsunami

has engulfed several cities in the miyagi prefecture. live footage as the tsunami has struck the area, obviously, engulfing farms, homes, alongside the river. can you see the white tsunami wave moving upstream. obviously, the camera is shaking there from aftershocks that are going on. looks like there's a fire that's happening inside the city. obviously, not being completely contained by firefighters. there's obviously someone inside that building, waving a white towel, seeking help. obviously, doing the right thing, moving to higher ground. >> a large earthquake, magnitude 8.4 hit northern japan. it has led to fires. that fire in an oil refinery completely under control. a large inferno.

chiba prefecture. >> so much devastation all across the country. we should add there are close to 100,000 u.s. military personnel and dependants in japan. the u.s. military is saying they're all safe thus far. >> that's right. military planes were stuck up in the air circling when it hit. let's check with sam champion. >> elizabeth, george, good morning. it is a gorgeous day in most of california. we expect to see dry, beautiful skies. the northwest will have a couple showers. the systems around earlier have already moved in. just a showery day in portland, 53 degrees there. palm springs, 84, beautiful weather in southern california. r

>> america's weather in the next half hour. george, elizabeth? >> thank you, sam. staying live all along on the west coast with special coverage of the disaster in the pacific. [ male announcer ] those with frequent heartburn imagine a day when we can eat what we want and sleep soundly through the night.

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morning as waves from a tsunami approach. amy hollyfield is live at ocean beach where police are keeping people away. >> and they're not having a problem with people coming to see the waves and there's not much to see. the waves look pretty normal. looks like just a beautiful friday morning out here. it does feel different though. they closed down the highway to traffic, the beach and there's a heavy police presence. the officers are in constant motion driving up and down this highway looking for people so they can warn them about what's going on. they can't close this area to pedestrians. they want people to know they are here at their own risk. they're reassessing the situation every half hour. they're walk through golden gate park, rousing the homeless and making sure they're aware and advising them to head east. if you're watching this from your living room, you can stay there. they're not evacuating people at this time but they do say stay

informed. amy hollyfield. >> amy, thank you very much. the tsunami warning have an affect on traffic. frances? >> bart still reporting no delays, no service changes but may shut down service up to 9:00 this morning between west oakland and daly city. we'll keep you posted on that. muni, bus bridges in place and heavy traffic on eastbound 92 at skyline, telling cars not to park on 92. >> france nothing worked on my eczema unticortizone-10 intensive healing eczema lotion. the power of cortizone-10 plus restora helps heal my symptoms. cortizone-10 -- feel the heal.

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look at these pictures from northern japan. these are dozens and dozens of cars and containers being swept away by the tsunami created by the largest earthquake ever in japan, ever recorded. the fifth largest earthquake in the world in the last 100 years. 8.9 earthquake, devastating japanover night. >> there are tsunami warnings for 20 countries this morning. that tsunami wave that caused all that devastation in japan has swept away boats we're told with as many as 100 people on board. has swept away an entire

passenger train. that is working its way towards the west coast of the united states, including obviously u.s. residents along the oregon, washington coast being evacuated. lots of traffic on the coastal highways as well as people head to higher ground. we've heard about hawaii, people waiting this out at the airport. this is a live shot there. >> looks pretty nice out there right now. bill weir on the santa monica pier. it's supposed to hit in the next hall hour? >> reporter: yeah, at the san francisco bay area, really at the top of the hour, 8:00 pacific time. 8:20, 8:23 here. southern californians, kind of gallos humor, you pay with the mud slides and earthquakes, today a tsunami.

it's a cautious optimism that the waves once they do reach the california coast will be minimal. but there's still energy disbursed in swirly waves around the waters, so surfers, fishermen, boaters are being advised to stay out for several hours after the scheduled wave hit that closed a lot of beaches up and down the coast. orange county taking a more conservative, more prudent approach. l.a. county, a little more laissez-faire about it. malibu beach will be closed today. a big surfing spot as well. further up the coast. california coast, up to the oregon border there, that is where the alarms have sounded april reverse 911 calls went out in the wee hours. the farther north, the more concern. we're hoping it will be as placid as it is now in about an hour when the wave comes. >> let's go back to japan. our reporter akiko fujita is

there. give us the latest, akiko? >> reporter: this say country in a state of shock. 200 confirmed deaths. that's the official toll. clearly a conservative number. you mentioned the reports with tens of thousands of people missing. we actually come to you from the bureau this is one safe spot, cell phone reception is out. internet service is spotty. all throughout japan. we have gotten reports of a passenger plane missing in in the coastal area, 200 to 300 bodies found on the northeastern coast. that's an estimation, but we're getting the number as they come in. >> of course, it's still the middle of the night in japan, the numbers are certain to climb as day breaks. what can you tell us now about the very dangerous situation with the nuclear reactor? >> reporter: that's right, it's 50 miles south of the epicenter

in an area an area called fukushima. there's a huge concern out there right now. we should also say, you know, in the cities, it's really, one, train service has all but started up again. you imagine, in japan, there are millions who rely on that transportation. we're also seeing images of roads just jammed. people trying to get home. but with the power outage and the damage, just a scene of chaos on the streets. >> akiko, seeing the pictures, entire blocks of cement standing on the streets of tokyo, it seems so terrifying. what were those moments like for you? >> reporter: well, i was actually in the bureau when it happened. it was just before 3:00. we get so used to earthquakes out here. i shrugged it off. it lasted quite a long time. it got stronger as it went on. from that point on, i knew i had to get under my desk. i can tell you we had felt

several aftershocks. and as i was waiting to talk to you here i felt another one. this is definitely, even in jap pang, where people are used to earthquakes, we knew right away. obviously, we knew this would be huge. >> okay, akiko fujita, thanks very much. hang in there. let's check in with dr. kate hutton who is a seismologist. dr. kate as you're own, this quake not only measured 8.9 but lasted five minutes and everybody we've spoken to in jap pang said it started to built in intensity as each second lasted. analyze that for us a second, if you may? >> that's actually what we expect from the very large earthquakes. this is probably -- they're looking at the fifth largest recorded earthquake anywhere since 1900s, unusually large for japan, where they have many earthquakes but usually not above 8.5. and the longer -- the bigger the

earthquake, the larger the size of the faults that had ruptured to make it happen. and that requires -- you're actually receiving what is generated along a huge different fault. so it's seen that the activity lasts much longer than it would be for the quake out here in california which only lasts ten seconds at the most. >> right. by the way there was a 7.2 quake in the same province just on tuesday ever this week. what is with all this seismic activity in the area? >> well, it turns out 25% of all earthquakes have foreshocks. in other words, smaller quakes that happen before the main shock. this appears to be one of those. there was a sequence, 7.2 and several smaller quakes in a few days leading up to this is 8.9 earthquake. >> i was curious to read this morning actually this earthquake happened in part of the japan

where the experts were not predicting the big one to happen? >> well, earthquake prediction is a very inexact science right now. we have a lot of speculation and computer modeling and we're really trying to understand the details of how things work well and predict it. but we can't do it now. >> this all happened, obviously in the ring of fire. we just had a major earthquake in new zealand which is also in the ring of fire just a couple weeks ago. what does all of this tell you? is there an increase in seismic activity? is this something that you expect to continue or spread? >> well, seismic activity is high, but i don't think it's alarmingly high. 8.5-plus earthquakes are fairly rare and to have them clustered together in a couple of years' time periods, like going back to the chile earthquake last year. that's a little unusual. but seven to ten occur during

the year. >> finally, we had an earthquake just reported in hawaii. do you expect the seismic activity to spread outward or remain in one geo graphic area? >> well, the increased activity will be mainly aftershocks for the 8.9 quake. they'll be shocks from japan. i think what we're seeing are noticed because there it's a big news story. >> dr. kate, thanks so much. we've had reports, george, as many as 50 aftershocks so far. many of those aftershocks measuring 6.0 which is a major quake in and of itself. >> lots and lots of activity. 20 countries, sam's been tracking it, what do you got, sam? >> hey, george, we now know we're in the hours where the first waves, the train of tsunami waves will be striking that west coast area. let's go to eureka, california,

we have pictures of how seriously they're taking this. police have blocked off the area there. reports is anywhere from 2 to 6 feet of additional water moving onshore. let me show you how we know this. you can track a tsunami from above the watered. the energy traveled below the water. there's a system of buoys. 40 we showed you at the top of the show all over the pacific. as that energy travels beneath the sea, it shakes up the monitor. the monitoring send a signal to a buoy. the buoy sends a message to the satellite all over the country that will immediately send off a warning. just briefing showing that earthquake as it happened in japan, 14 feet high. 2 to 6 feet. we're looking at the times from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. on the west coast at this point. that's kind of why everyone's watching it very carefully to see how the water gets in. we will tell you that the weather on the west coast is generally very nice.

san francisco, gorgeous day today. but will you pick up showers during the day tomorrow. 58 de >> there was also a big story in the east coast, if you're traveling east and flooding going on in the northeast. that we know of right now, boston is the only airport that has a two-hour delay. that will be a delay early in the morning because of heavy rain and flooding. george and elizabeth. >> thank you very much. we're going to continue our coverage live from the west coast. our special edition of "good morning america," disaster in the pacific continues. then we asked them to show us how the taste inspired them. ♪ express yourself [ female announcer ] introducing new rich

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to the disaster of the devastating earthquake in japan. jake tapper at the white house. martha raddatz and bianna golodryga here. the president woken up at 4:00 in the morning. >> reporter: that's right, president obama we're told just got off the phone with japanese prime minister kan a few minutes ago, offering to help. preparing for humanitarian disaster relief. the state department announced that the embassy in tokyo has moved its command center to a different location, because of the aftershock felt after that earthquake. and of course, the federal emergency management agency is on the case, preparing for any effect from the tsunami in the pacific, on the pacific states, washington, oregon and california. it seems right now, that most of the united states will not be affected by this, but, of course, there's a big concern on the west coast, george. >> that's right.

we'll hear from the president at 12:30 eastern. the press conference would be moved back to get more briefings on the situation. >> we should point out there are about 100,000 military and dependants in japan. so far, we're hearing everybody is okay on those military bases. but there's great concern about this nuclear plant that's been declared a nuclear emergency. martha raddatz is joining us. your sources are say despite japanese officials saying we've got this under control, even though they're evacuating many people, they're quite worried about this. >> they are. the official i spoke to very early this morning said the japanese are worried about this. of course, they do not want the population to panic. there are no leaks right now, but they have declared a nuclear emergency. now, these reactors at the fukushima nuclear power plants are boiling water reactors which means the reactors continue to produce heat even after fusion stops. as you've been saying all

morning, dr. kaku says, the backup system is not working right now because there is no power. but the prime minister in japan said regarding our nuclear power facility, so far no radioactive material has been leaked to the outside. again, elizabeth, they are nervous about that. watching that very, very closely at this time. u.s. officials are as well. >> obviously, the big concern, martha, about a leak of radiation. george, they said earlier and dr. kaku said they should know within hours if that continues to be a problem. the core system continues to cool down, but if it heats up they can't get that under control. >> let's more economic impact with bianna golodryga. asian financial markets way down the same in europe. what's going on? >> we're down all around, george. the third largest economy in the world after the u.s. and china. many multi national companies, honda, panasonic, toshiba, sony,

they're all headquartered in japan. $10 billion, jut initially. this justs on the heels of that massive selloff from yesterday. a one-two punch on what's going to be a very fragile economic recovery. >> you talk about uncertainty. we don't know the extent on japan right now. we see the factories closed down. >> that's right. the markets are going to be tumbling in asia, we can imagine until next week. in regards to japan's economy it's been in the doldrums for the past number of decades now. >> this loss number is just from the shut down of those factories? >> this is initial estimates right now from what we can see. we do know multiple companies are going to be shut down right now. this is one of the first initial estimates we're seeing. >> okay, bianna golodryga, martha raddatz, jake tapper thank you. we'll be right back with our special west coast edition of "good morning america," disaster in the pacific.

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new video coming in right now from northern japan, an entire town being swept away. >> that's the tsunami, of course, triggered by that 8.9 massive earthquake that hit japan at 2:46 in the afternoon. look at that. >> you can see the power of that tsunami as it rolls over the town. >> there have been reports this tsunami wave as anywhere from 13

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good morning, everyone. just minutes from now the first waves from the tsunami are expected to reach the shores in the bay area and we're tracking the arrival all along the coast. you have these pictures you see here from sky 7 hd live. >> that's right. this is, of course, santa cruz county but in san mateo county, same situation. officials, residents carefully monitoring the waves starting to

come in in about ten minutes as eric mentioned. we want to talk about these shelters in the low lying areas. people have been asked to movie to higher ground and our terry mcsweeney live in pacifica with more on the situation there. >> terry? >> all eyes are on the waves out here, pacifica. and just about any day of the year you can take a look out there, and see something darn impressive. people looking out there with a little more anxiety than unusual. waiting for that tsunami action wave coming in. haven't gotten here yet. there are voluntary evacuations. just a short time ago, we heard this. >> pacifica p. d. asking people if you live here, get into your house. if you don't live here, get off the beach, off the sidewalks. there's nothing to be gained at

this time from being down here. they're airing with an abundance of caution. they are joined by the san bruno police, hillsborough police, ready to get people out of here with a mandatory evacuation had that become necessary and so far it has not. when we got here now, people are looking out, watching the waves. not a normal day by any means. we asked one resident down here exactly what his plans were. >> go to roberts road and watch it. it's a good view up there. we'll see it go out and see it come back in. >> but you're not overly concerned at this time. >> no. it's going to hit 8:15. then i don't see me standing here. >> a few people are here on their bicycles just standing around. nobody showing any great

concern. there was confusion overnight. 4:00 this morning there were 4,000 reverse 9-1-1 calls made in san mateo county. they were told it was a tsunami and there may be waves hitting here between 7 and 8 a.m.. some people thought they heard it was mandatory, though some called pacifica p. d., it's not mandatoriry, they just wanted to give themselves a heads up. middle schools, high schools cancelled and that's the same story in half moon bay. people are looking to the west. beautiful ocean. big waves, nothing extraordinary, at least not yet. we're waiting to see what happens. live in pacifica, abc 7 news. >> terry, thank you very much. >> folks in half moon bay are told they will not be allowed to take their vessels out this morning because of the tsunami coming in right now. the harbor master has been going

around to people living on fish boats to alert them to the tsunami warning. he's been putting up tape up across the boat ramps to keep the boats from entering. there's some reports people are starting to see the waves dip, possibly ahead of the bigger waves that are coming in and we saw that happening in hawaii about three hours ago when the tsunami waves hit there. >> we've mentioned residents along the san mateo coastline being contacted by emergency services personnel and asked to move to higher ground. these five shelters have been opened just for that purpose. so folks have a place to go on higher ground. these places all opened up at 6:00 this morning for folks who left their homes in the low-lying areas for the safety

of higher ground. >> and talking about people moving to higher ground in half moon bay, we saw earlier that there was a line of cars trying to get out of half moon bay via highway 92. this is just a couple hours ago when we saw cars, trucks, rv's have crowded the sides of the road looking for higher ground. a lot of cars getting to skyline and then parking there. so not necessarily trying to get over to the other side of the hills but certainly getting to the high area where they wouldn't be in the risk should this tsunami wave come in. and it is about to at about 8:08 our time, is what mike has been looking at. >> about 7 minutes from now. the chp has been traveling the road making sure people move off to the side so there is space to actually drive. but, as you mentioned, the driving is exceptionally slow through there. a little further north in san francisco, amy hollyfield is live near ocean beach where police are asking folks to stay

away. amy? >> good morning, eric. the great highway is closed. ocean beach is closed. look at the water though. it don't look very different from a typical friday morning. i understand the vantage point even better from our sutro camera. let's show you that picture so you can get a sense what it looks like out here. it's very quiet, odd to have the road closed and the beach closed. there's a lot of police out here, all night long, they've had a constant presence. they've been communicating with the experts watching the ocean and reassessing the situation every 30 minutes. they've been telling people they don't recommend they be here and also telling people they're here at their own risk. they cannot evacuate the area from pedestrians. they can't tell them they have to leave but they're here at their own risk and telling them about the warnings. we did meet one woman who is ready to go just in case. >> i've been up since 1:45 a.m. when my cousin called on the top

of the hill in daly city. so we have our bags packed but i don't think anything big will happen. better safe than sorry. >> you do have them packed. are you gonna leave? >> we're just going to school early. >> and check out her car. she packed it up. packed some luggage, threw it in the car just in case and she's headed for higher ground. we're seen the opposite reaction as well. take a look at this picture. we have people jogging out here and do not look too concerned at all what's happening out here. people on bikes, dog walkers. we're seeing the extremes, people packing up and getting out of here and people enjoying a beautiful friday morning. the mayor came out just a few minutes ago and said the emergency responders are ready to go. they're monitoring the situation. but at this point they're also trying to figure out ways that we can get some donations, some aid out to the victims in japan.

so the mayor doesn't sound overly concerned about what's going to happen here in san francisco but he's got his emergency staff on standby and is monitoring the situation closely. live in san francisco, amy hollyfield. >> amy, thank you for the great work this morning. >> as she was talking about the waves, looking pretty low at the moment but as mike has been telling us here in the studio we're about to get into the low tide period. that is something folks need to keep in mind. >> the tsunami just about four minutes away. >> you couldn't ask for better timing to have the tsunami come in during low tide. look how far-reaching. centimeters over here. the blue and purple, that's the land mass. here's japan. you see how high it was and how it dissipates. will reach all the way down to the southern tip of south america and antarctica because that's how far-reaching the tsunami can be. this one with speeds up to 300

mph. that's pretty quick. what's going on as far as our warnings. you'll be surprised how far inland they go, all the way to the delta. the tsunami could push through the golden gate head up and then into the delta community. that's why you see napa and sonoma, some of those counties under the tsunami warning. i've been watching this particular buoy here. the wave heights have not changed over the last several hours running about 12 feet. once the tsunami comes in, 2 feet from point reyes, 3 feet around half moon bay and about three and a third in santa cruz. let's turn it over to frances. lots of problems potential with this. what's going on? >> especially on bart, mike, where they were talking about stopping all service up to 9:00 this morning between west oakland and daly city. they're continuing to monitor the tsunami situation and so far there have been no changes to the normal schedule, no delays

reported but again they still are considering the possibility of shutting down the service between west oakland and daly city. muni lines have to be rerouted due to the great highway closure and, also, please do not park on highway 92. heavy traffic there. highway 1 closed near the half moon bay airport. frances, thank you very much now. it's 8:06. we understand that this is the very beginnings, some of the precursor waves arriving from the tsunami. we're going to take you outside to take a look. >> let's get you started. we're going to take a sky 7 picture here live. you saw what mike was saying, that this area in santa cruz county, the coast here expected to get some of the biggest waves, 3 1/2 feet possibly. and these are some of the waves coming in. folks hopefully no longer there along the beach. in santa cruz let's take a look here. not too far away right now. obviously looking calm as well.

but right about now you should start to see some waves coming in that look to be bigger. >> this looks familiar based on what we saw in hawaii which is very calm waves in the beginning and then a couple minutes later on its own time schedule, the tsunami began bringing higher waves in. out at ocean beach in san francisco, you can see the wave action there. wave action there is normally quite busy. by the way, as you probably herd from amy, the great highway is closed there, so is ocean beach. police telling people to stay away. got information from san francisco unified school district is having classes today unlike half moon bay and pacifica where classes were cancelled. >> back live to apta. you can see the waves coming in. again, this all began with a deadly earthquake in japan. and that was an 8.9 quake

followed by devastating tsunami and then the tsunami a few hours later hit hawaii at about 5:00 our time. didn't cause much damage there. everything looked to be okay in all the hawaiian islands. this is ocean beach where there's a seawall. if you walk, drive around there you know there is a seawall there and at the point they're predicting about 2 1/2 feet with the waves, they should not be breaching the seawall. >> with the buildings in the foreground, how far the waves are coming in. again where police telling folks to stay away from the ocean beach highway. they have closed down the great highway and it's 8:08 now. this is the moment which the tsunami was supposed to arrive here in the bay area. see if we can get mike to weigh in on some of this. this is santa cruz, mike? do we see anything different here than we'd normally see?

>> i really don't, not yet. it's not just going to be one wave. it's the welling up if you will of the height of the entire ocean. it could come in maybe one wave but then there will be more behind it. the key is watch what happens behind the waves and there's that dip and a bigger wave is coming behind it. this will come in supposedly several waves that will last two to three hours. tsunami can last ten to 12. we're not dealing with that. the waves were crashing back on each other. i think that's a big concern. the fact when these waves come in such velocity and such height in a curved area like half moon bay, they will crash over tems in different directions creating quite a bit of turbulence within the water, a lot of rip currents and dangerous conditions in that respect. not only is the wave height important but also the directions they're moving. >> mike, let me interrupt you

just one second. the pilot of sky 7 says he can see a wave coming in in. can he show us what he is seeing that he thinks is a bigger than normal wave? can you move the camera out to that, guys? they're trying to move the camera out to show us what they're seeing up there that may be a sign of the tsunami arriving. this is about what happened in hawaii. the tsunami arrived two or three minutes after the official time; and, once again, you're looking live at apta which is an area among the most affected by the tsunami when it arrives. >> when the tsunami hit hawaii, it turned out to be relatively calm. no damage reported really, nothing major. the waves were bigger than usual. >> that's a pretty good wave there coming in. mike, what do you make of it? see there? >> i'm sorry, i was working on

something else. yes, i see that. interesting because you can watch the speed. if you see the speed of a wave overtaking another wave, that's the leading edge of the continues. it will have more frost, the whiteness on it, too, because it would be more turbulent. that's the leading edge of the tsunami or not. those are things you can look for when you're up there in sky 7 hd. >> and and when we do see the waves associated with the tsunami, the pacific warning center put out an advisory telling folks they don't expect to see any heavy damage from this. could be scattered damage but don't expect to see heavy damage or loss of life associated with this tsunami which is expected to be, as mike said, between 2 and 3 feet. but you never quite know with these things. the good part is it's going to hit low tide. >> seeing a tweet from the red

cross, the bay area, many evacuations centers open in the bay area, about five in san mateo county. but also they've got evacuation centers open in santa cruz and kappa toll la as well. if you need more information go to our website abc7news.com. we have the addresses, locations set up for evacuation centers. but, you know, a lot of folks along the san mateo county, santa cruz county and san francisco coast have been asked, just asked to be safe and not be there right on the beach. as these waves come in, you can see how quiet it is along the beach. we don't see people walking. on those roads nearby we don't see cars moving. that's good because people have been heeding the call and taking the necessary precaution to stay away even though these waves are not expected to exceed 3 feet. >> we've heard what local governments have been doing preparing for these police

departments. fema has also been monitoring this, the federal emergency management agency. let's find out how they are weighing in. jenelle? >> hi, eric. hi, kristen. i spoke with fema about 25 minutes ago and they have activated their medical emergency teams, response teams. they got word after the earthquake hit to get everybody on the same page just in case they need to deploy people to certain parts of the west coast. i talked to the regional director of fema who oversees hawaii and some of the islands in the pacific ocean. not seeing anything major but saying the tsunami waves, the aftermath, they can come in waves like every 15 minutes. they can build every 15 minutes. they're going to keep an eye on the situation. they're telling people to stay tuned to local news like abc 7 because we're keeping an eye on the situation. they're guardedly optimistic.

they are optimistic that nothing serious is going to happen here on the west coast but definitely going to keep an eye on the situation throughout the day. depends on those aftershocks coming out of japan. many strong, over 6.0. depending what happens in japan still, they're going to just monitor the situation and keep their teams activated in case they need to be deployed to certain areas. >> thank you very much. we can definitely see the wave action faster coming into the beach here at aptas and some of the monitoring equipment around the bay area is telling us something as well. mike, what do you see, what do you hear? >> i see reports an 8 inch rise in the sea level in a five-minute span. that gives you an idea how quickly things can change once the surge starts to come in. another interesting note, what caused this, the big earthquake, i've now recorded 88 aftershocks of 4.5 magnitude to 6.5

magnitude which in themselves would be pretty big earthquakes. >> yeah. >> mike, is there a warning going out to folks who may be gathered along the rivers? you know, people who might be standing around by the mouth? >> that's a good point, kristen, yes. any of the rivers that feed into the ocean will get backfilled by the higher ocean level. i think that's another reason why you see not only the san francisco bay under the tsunami warning but the san pablo bay and the delta communities as the search moves through those bay and into the delta communities. there's several around monterey where they dip or spill into the ocean that may be backfilling right now as this surge of taller water starts to move in. >> how far inland this might go, you might be in delta communities thinking it may not reach you. but a good point in hawaii, too, you were talking how far the water extended inland there.

>> went in about 100 feet. that's pretty impressive. that's from the shore. if you're in the delta communities, i don't think it will go 100 feet but if you live that close to the water and you're a dealt community, that gives you an idea how much a 6 foot surge could create in hawaii. we're going to check in now with our former journal it's ian bag cock. >> next to the harbor master's office and watching the water here. an interesting little texture came over the top of the water. pretty minor texture, looks almost like a wind texture but it's actually the surge rolling in and out of the harbor now. we put up a piece of tape as a reference on the piling. i'd say we've got a good 2 feet probably in each direction now.

surged out earlier. it was definitely the surge moving out of the water. we have a significant surge back in of at least 2 feet or so. haven't seen any boats run dry here, anything like that in the harbor. nobody's coming loose as far as their moorings go but we're keeping an eye on it here and watching the surge come in and out. could expect another one pretty soon. >> 2 feet of what the estimates were. as we've been telling you all morning and mike's been repeating all morning, the first waves are not necessarily the biggest waves. ian, thank you very much for that. >> ian, are you only -- i hope -- folks heeding the call and ready to leave the area. >> there's fishermen watching with great interest what's going to happen near the harbor and citizens more or less. things are pretty quiet. most of the folks heeded the

warning near half moon bay and headed to higher ground. it doesn't look like it's anything too significant but it is interesting seeing the tidal fluctuations we're seeing now. >> the live picture from santa cruz. you saw the santa cruz boardwalk there. while ian is coming to us from half moon bay up the coast, santa cruz expecting bigger waves, ian, in san mateo county. >> yeah, i think so. i was saying earlier on the path to the santa cruz harbor and witnessed the tsunami happen there from the chilean earthquake. it was like the whole harbor came in significantly. some boats did run dry. and, you know, the movement of the water was definitely significant. you could see it from afar. it looked like a river. >> let me interrupt for a second. can we go back from that picture from pacifica. i think we can see something that's very telling there. if you look at the pier here,

talking about the danger level, there appears to be someone from the city public works picking up the trash or putting in new trash bags up there on the pier, an indication that maybe they consider this to be very, very dangerous because they have workers out this morning doing their thing, although some of the residents who live nearby were treated back to higher ground. this fella's on the job there. >> yeah. precautionaries been taken in a lot of counties, of course, in addition to shelterers being set up. we have a lot of transit agencies that shifted their schedules for the ferry or bridge, buses, cancelled them. you need definitely to stop service in some of the areas. right now we're continuing to look at live feeds. this is santa cruz. what about the boats that are out there, are they house boats or cargo ships that may be out there. >> i think the cargoship tsunami

like this, of this magnitude won't bother them at all, they can ride it out very well. inland though, as mike was saying, we have to wait and see how the water backfills or fills into the bays and the rivers and see what the effect are on the house boats then. but if the waves we saw were any indication of what we're gonna get or what we have gotten, i don't think the house boats have too much to worry about. mike, why don't you weigh in on what ian was saying about the waves coming in while we take a look at ocean beach. you see it appears to have picked up on some of these things. >> definitely. i'm trying to watch the buoys off the coast and seeing wave heights from 6 to 13 feet which don't seem to be overly impressive. you know, as far as having a dangerous tsunami move in. so that's what i've been

watching. also been watching the water mark on the sand with all these live shots. it seems to be creeping a little higher but that 8 inch -- here we go with this shot. we could xerox before on the left side of your screen. now they're all covered. looks like we had a foot to a foot and a half surge here in santa cruz. we were talking 3 and a third feet. if we can stay below that then pillar point we won't have the damage that could possibly happen if it was higher. now the wave heights are not too extreme at least out on the buoys. we had reports of wave heights of 7 feet crest isn't city. that's the highest i've seen along the coast right now. >> the seawall was virtually untouched when we first took the picture there. now you can see some of the spray from the water slamming up against it. you can see the waves there. thought earlier sky 7 had a

picture of a coast guard vessel out there maybe just as a precaution watching things. but, once again, as mike said, doesn't appear to be hugely impressive. we're keeping our eye on it because the next couple hours, the potential's going to be there for something and first waves are not necessarily the most powerful. >> we saw that in hawaii. a quick update as we continue to just watch and pictures from the various angles we have at different waves that start to come in. the first set, of course, having hit us about ten minutes ago. all flights between san francisco international airport and hawaiian islands are operating as scheduled today. that's the latest word we just got from san francisco international airport. if you want to go to hawaii, you're good today. the tsunami of course hit them three hours ago leaving no major

damage there. however, flights here from japan, most of them have been cancelled today. a few are diverted. if you expect someone to come in from japan or you plan to go out there, that's likely not going to happen and probably not advisable as the country recovers from this horrible tragedy. >> it took a while to check out the airports to make sure they were okay and they were not underwater as we've seen with so many airports in japan. no, no flights departing from san francisco to tokyo. today that is not going to happen and those that left tokyo, some have been diverted. we've been told earlier, we're checking out reports of a dock that may have been damaged. this dock here looks like it's still doing its job, but can you tell us what that yellow thing in the water is? is that a buoy? what is that?

yeah. >> that dock looks okay, you're right. >> the leading edge of it was looking a little lower earlier but it looks fine now. so that's a nice, yellow and rust buoy. >> yeah. you talked about -- just to give you a little perspective here, the one happened in japan, 8.9 that triggered the tsunami is measured 900 times more powerful, the ones in 1989, 900 times more powerful. today's quake is the fifth largest ever recorded in history. but, of course, the recording began in 1900 for the fifth largest in recorded history. >> wow! we can see from that shot there in santa cruz it looked like things were backing off a little bit there. once again, these are live pictures from pacifica. it looks calmer there than it

did a couple hours ago. talking about santa cruz, maybe five minutes ago as mike was describing the water was crashing off that seawall pretty good with that productive wall. now it's backed off a bit. >> it does seem the water level is falling now, water receding at various beaches. pacifica that's the case, san francisco, redwood city, richmond, alameda. mike is gathering more information. when he's ready to give us an update we'll bring him back in to see what's happening with the waves. ocean beach the seawall seems to be holding, it's fine. we wanna let you know because of the tsunami, all pacifica schools are closed today and in addition to that in marin county, stinson beach campuses are closed as well. from marin county to santa cruz county, all those area counties along the coast taking

precautions, just waiting for the tsunami which is underway right now and the sunset is starting to hit us but there can be more waves as eric and mike we've all been talking about in the last couple hours. >> bay schools also closed today but not san francisco unified schools. they are open for business. we're gonna check in now with someone who's got a closer view of what's going on out there. terry mcsweeney. terry, what's happening? >> well, we did notice a bit of a surge. nothing astounding after seeing the pictures from japan and the anticipation in hawaii. we were expecting maybe not so much. we didn't get too much. but this picture here at pacifica pier is, as usual, pretty stunning. what we've got to tell you is that there were 2800 reverse 9-1-1 calls at 4:00 this morning telling people in low-lying areas that there was a tsunami.

and it may be coming this way hitting between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning. people were concerned. as you mentioned, they closed the schools in pacifica and half moon bay as a precaution. police came in to pacifica from all over san mateo county prepared to go down the street with their loud speakers telling people to please evacuate. none of that became necessary. they did go down the streets with their loud speakers saying if you live along the coast, go inside your house. if you are just out here hanging out, please go somewhere else but nothing happened. the first wave has come and gone. and everything is just fine and normal down here in pacifica. live in pacifica, terry mcsweeney, abc 7 news. >> terry, before you get away, i noted something there and i'd like you to addresses it. you mentioned the 2800 reverse 9-1-1 calls from authorities alerting people around there about the tsunami. but then out there on the pier just as you were talking there's a guy picking up the trash.

is there some irony there? >> at 4:00 this morning they were far less certain exactly what it was going to be like 8:00, 8:30 this morning. 4:00 this morning they were saying as advice you might want to get to higher ground. the gentlemen here, just finished picking up the trash. they thought things were fine. thought they'd go out there, eric. >> terry, thank you very much for that. >> let's take another live look of all the camera positions we have on the coast up and down to give you an idea what's happening right now with the tsunami waves. we're getting reports the water is now coming back in, and this is in santa cruz. does that look like some boats may be grounded as a result when the water rushed out? that's something that certainly could happen. >> we have there what looks like a pier that's been damaged or dock that's been damaged -- we have some floating concrete

there. we had reports of a boat that had capsized -- there it is in your picture there. that boat is capsized, we presume from the surge, not 100% sure. but there is that. we have another picture -- we could have figured this was gonna happen. there are surfers who like to take advantage of things like this when they hear about it. they are surfing. >> again, we have santa cruz and you can see there are definitely things that are floating about as a result of the water that's rushed in, rushed back out and rushed back in again at the moment from the tsunami. again, it's not just one wave. it's like a train. there are waves coming -- >> appears to be real damage there. you saw one boat with its

moorings overturned. that zodiac there was violently thrown around there and capsized. it is really being rocked and these big chunks of concrete slamming into that cabin cruiser there, that's not a good thing. apparently forcing it -- it's come loose from its moorings it looks like. it's being pushed back by both the tide and those concrete blocks which can cause some damage there. >> go ahead. >> i was gonna say one of the warnings we saw from various counties was to secure your boats. don't be out there on the boats and then of course secure your boats. but you can see of little use to this one floating away at the moment and some others were grounded. >> let's see what happens here at the bridge. is it going to collide with the bridge? looks like it's going to. here it is. somebody's lost a boat.

and there's been some damage from the surge, from the tsunami that came in. nothing earth shattering. this is the biggest damage we've seen so far. this boat is just loose and running. listen, folks, we have reporters out in the field. we'll be tracking this all day long following whatever damage there may be. and we're gonna bring you the very latest. you see a line of people here now watching this runaway boat while somebody figures out what they're going to do about it. the anchor line there, you see it looks like it snapped. we saw those concrete blocks just floating away from apparently a dock that had been damaged. so there you are. that slams into other boats, it's going to be real trouble for lots of people. so let's hope somebody's contacted the coast guard and they were -- can we -- looks like it's gonna slam into some

boats over here. is that what that is? >> just gives you an idea how powerful the water is, eric, and how it can move. >> a little wider shot so we can see what's around this boat. that looks like an expensive catamaran it's just dodging there. it's loose inside the harbor. it's loose around a lot of boats that are tied up and could be significantly damaged by this. so this is the one bit of possibly damaging or dangerous effect we've seen from the tsunami this morning in santa cruz. >> yeah. boat capsized. the one that's floating away. >> yep. >> some dock damage. i'm sure there are more that we're not seeing in this picture. but overall you have to say in the grand scheme of things the damage to northern california to the bay area so far with reports coming in what we've been seeing live minimal.

>> no reports of any injuries except to apparently some insurance company's bottom line. >> amazing how fast that current is inside the harbor where you expect the water to be relatively still on a normal day. >> indeed. remember how the zodiac was being violently tossed around by the water and capsized. we saw the power of it there. we can see the power of it here just pushing this. this is not a small boat. it's pushing it downstream. >> we've been talking a lot about the coast and the ocean. i wanna give you an update on the 8:00 observations around the bay shore. and right now it looks like everybody's having falling water levels. chicago 3.1 feet and falling. san francisco 1.4 feet and falling. redwood city 3.1 feet and falling. richmond at 1.8 feet and falling. look at that, right there you go just a few minutes ago water was, what, about five feet

higher than that. >> uh-huh. backed off again but it may come in again. how long is the window for -- >> two to three hours with this one. >> mike, are you seeing any reports, measurements yet how fast water is rushing out of the harbors, out of the -- >> no. i heard the tsunami when it was over open water was running around 300 but it's not going to do that obviously as it gets closer to the coast or these harbors. i don't have reports unfortunately other than the observation i just made how fast this boat was moving in a harbor which usually has glass water because it's so still. >> yeah. this boat again has broken loose from its moorings. it is floating free inside the harbor and is threatening to hit some other boats. you gotta believe somebody here, maybe the harbor master, is trying to get into another boat, catch up with this one and steer it to someplace save. don't look like there's anyone aboard to steer it.

not worried about anybody being injured aboard that boat. the danger comes from the things he could slam into. here it's headed for the beach. maybe it will just ground itself and this whole thing will be over but we'll have to see. what's that in the water? is that a jet ski? can we zoom into sky 7? or to the left there's a wake. just a buoy. so another indication, mike, how fast the water's moving. you see that? >> yeah. >> mike, worth reminding viewers that the low tide area, low tide period is coming in. so at least we can be thankful for that. >> low tide i think peaks about 9:50. at least around san francisco and probably a little later around santa cruz. so that is looking there that it's probably having a tremendous effect on holding back the surge of this water. so far 1 to 3 feet reported that

along our coast. that's pretty much what we expected, around 2 to 3 and a third feet. nothing out of the ordinary has gone on other than we forecast. >> so the precautions were a good idea to get people to higher ground but, obviously, no homes really threatened here. see that big wave there, the power of that though. yes, we have seen surfers take to the water to take advantage of those waves. let's go back if we can, a live picture of that boat that's just loose there. something just circled back around again? oh, my! if he clears this dock and over there it could be out in the

open ocean so -- >> it could be gone. frances was just telling us that she used to sail out of this harbor and they'd get tugged out to the bay because water is normally so calm here. certainly not the case this morning as we continue to watch this one boat that's come loose in santa cruz. it is just floating down. it's hit a few things along the way already. hit an overpass tiller, hit another boat. look how far it's come and if it's in the open ocean which it's pretty close to. >> yeah. here in the water told you about the story of a faithful trip, that small boat there. apologies to the skipper and to gilgan. not that it clipped the back edge of that catamaran there. hope it didn't cause any damage. that looks expensive with some debris in front of it.

so we're seeing here at least in the harbor at santa cruz, the surge has caused some problems. it was powerful enough to rip this boat loose from its moorings which is about to go out -- maybe it's just on a sand bar. it seems to be sitting -- it may have grounded itself. which is the best anyone could have hoped for. that way won't run out to sea, won't hit anybody else and can be salvaged relatively quickly. stuck there. >> we talk about once the waves got in a small area like that they're going to change directions and crash back on each other. we may be seeing the waves run into each other with the next tidal surge tosome in later. >> important to remember these are just the first swells that we're seeing linked to the tsunami triggered by the japanese earthquake. the water seems to be coming up

again from santa cruz at this shot which you can tell from the sand that the water had risen and gone back out. looks to be in the middle of another set right now. >> to recap for you, this is all from a earthquake in japan, a very, very powerful 8.9 magnitude, the kind you only see every decade maybe. it's caused a couple of hundred deaths in japan and lots of damage from tsunami created just pushing buildings and cars and boats out of its way. that tsunami then headed midway wake island hawaii. now it's gotten to the u.s. west coast. no reports of any major damage, although we have seen a bit here in the harbor at santa cruz with a boat that tore loose from its moorings. no major injuries or any kind of

injuries at this point. >> bart at the moment is running normal service during this first wave that's come in from the tsunami; however, frances just talked with them and they're still monitoring the situation. things could change but for now all trains are running normally. as you know, some of the ferries this morning were cancelled. >> that was the vallejo ferry, although golden gate district said it would run its ferries as normal, though keeping an eye on the situation monitoring it to see if there was any reason to change things. but, yes, the vallejo ferry was docked and they ran a bus bridge instead. >> a kayak there loose. several docks have broken loose in the santa cruz area. you're looking at live pictures right there. so perhaps not severe in damage but we're seeing certainly lots of little damage here and there so far from the tsunami. >> like this peer that's

floating loose in the boat. a few people have been affected but we are keeping an eye on these things. we have reporters from the field all across the bay area and they're going to be telling you what's happening with the surge later on today again. we just saw here at santa cruz, we just saw a lot of beach and rocks here and the tide -- rather the surge has come back in again and is hitting the rock wall there. so we may be dealing with the ins and outs of this tsunami for a couple of hours to come. >> yeah. another surge coming in right now. there's santa cruz. we've watching these waves and so far not major damage but definitely a lot of damage to the likes of docks breaking loose. this one boat we've been watching for a while floating away, hitting other boats. so there's damage to them as well. kayaks loose. cement pieces floating about.

it's a good thing that you just don't see people on their boats right now heeding the call to not be in the water if possible, all these we saw a few surfers. you see the wave height picking up. mike, that's a very good shot there since you have something to compare it to, those pilings there. live ocean beach now, the waves coming in. why don't you define whoa for us. >> you can tell from the different color of the water exactly where it's coming in, the strongest, and where it's going out. i was looking at a different shot. sorry about that. looking at the scene from sky 7 hd. thank you, frances. you can see a little higher rate on those as -- looks like another push is coming on in. wave heights still around 13

feet in the buoys just off the shore. look at the different color as that next push of higher waves moves on in and brings a whole fresh batch of water in with it. >> stay tuned to abc 7 news all day long for the latest on the tsunami and its effect here in the bay area. this has been special coverage. thank you for joining us. >> if you have pictures or video send them to us. you can upload them. we'll see you at 11 a.m. but we'll continue to

you're looking at pictures of that nuclear power plant in japan. a state of emergency has been declared. thousands have been evacuated out of the concern that the core is heating up. the backup system is on. as we've been telling you all morning, we're back with dr. michio kaku. secretary of state clinton has sent, the pentagon has sent special coolant to help with the plant. i was talking to you, and you said, wait a minute, i'm a little confused because the coolant is water. >> it's cooled by liquid water. >> ordinary water? >> distilled water. in case of severe emergency, the ne boron dampens the nitrons.

it keeps the chain reaction going. by reducing the neutron activity you lower the activity of the reactor, it's calls boronated water. out of kiev, the air force was culled to dump bore e boronated. they sand bagged it with cement. >> that's the worst case scenario. >> this is not even leaking? >> right. that could cool it down. >> the prime minister says that things are stable, under control. but that to me only means that the backup system is crippled but that things aren't changing. and if there's another aftershock, it could tip over the reactor and then there's no backup. there's no brake, it's like riding a car and all of a sudden, the brakes fail. >> so do you think this delivery of possibly borated water to this nuclear reactor does this

neutralize the emergency that they've declared? >> it doesn't neutralize it. it just means we have one more backup system. that dumps cooling water into the core, keeping the core under the boiling point of water. >> dr. kaku, thanks very much. we're getting pictures now of the surge, the tsunami hitting the northern california coast up in santa cruz. let's go to those right now. we're going to be seeing some damage of boats in the hash bror. harbour. >> the boats are there. we have troy micheletti, a meteorologist in northern california, he's been tracking the damage so far along the coastline. good morning, troy. what do you see in terms of wave activity and water height? >> good morning. we're seeing some really significant drawdown which is sometimes precedes the actual arrival. and the magnitude of those drawdowns are in the order of two meters.

that confirms the model of prediction and gives us confidence that the maximum wave height will be pretty solid. even that level drawdown has caused damage as reported by the county emergency services. they've reported that the bay mostly drained. that was the drawdown, crescent city refilled. and significant damage to crescent city harbor. the good news all of the sea worthy boats put out to see in the middle the night before the waves arrived. those boats are out at sea, they can ride the tsunami out with no damage whatsoever as long as in deep water. >> we're seeing the images of crescent of, where boats are jumbled about. the water has been pulling out. you say you call it a drawdown? >> a drawdown, yeah. on the beach, even regular

waves, one wave goes out, another wave comes in. sometimes, tsunamis arrive with the drawdown being the first part. and then the actually elevated water comes in after the fact. >> how much preparation do people have for all of this? >> excuse me, i missed that question. >> how much preparation did you have for this? >> interestingly, this area just last year it did a full-scale evacuation drill. all of crescent city, the mari e marina, the water front. all did the drill. people are going to survive this event, that is great to hear. we're glad to hear that all the preparation and education helped that community. >> and you say you expect the waves to build, peaking in two to four hours? >> yeah, two to four hours. roughly, from the first arrival time. not too far away now. an hour or two lauers.

actually, we're not the group that forecasts that, we have a group in palmer, alaska, that does the numbers crunching. that's our understanding. >> troy, with the national weather service, thank you so much for keeping us posted. you can see the scene calm in southern california, not so much in northern california. >> that's right. stay with us. more of the disaster in pacific when we come back. [ female announcer ] we asked coffee lovers to come and try coffee-mate's new cafe collection flavors.

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scott wright is at the helm of the news helicopter hovering above the pacific ocean. scott, have you seen unusual water activity or evidence of drawdown that we're hearing from our meteorologist in the last segment? >> well, we'll show you a little bit of what we're seeing.

we did listen to that. we have seen what we would call a receding or drawback come offer to the right here. you're going to see the santa monica pier, the shoreline. can you see the water has receded a bit. i'm not an expert. i'm not certain if the tide is receding or if this is part of what may be a surge coming into the shoreline. but it's a picturesque southern california day here. the surf is calm. they don't have a lot of surfers in the water that they have to evacuate. certainly taking a precaution here, helicopters up and down the city on the shoreline. they're trying to get everybody offer the beach itself just in case they should have one of those surges. as far as receding, if we are seeing it, it's a small amount. >> scott, you're up there every day, does the surf look any different than it does on most days? >> no there's absolutely no difference. everything we're seeing today looks exactly like we would have expected it to.

we've been up since early this morning, trying to look to see if we could notice anything that was different. we really can't. it's a calm surf day. there's no indication that there's any surge or any receding, if you will. that it was any different than just the tide going out. >> and certainly not the dramatic images we were seeing, george, earlier, off the coast of japan. when you saw the massive tsunami when it was coming in and washing ashore. obviously washing in. >> and we have the ships where the boats have been knocked into each other. >> the drawdown there, obviously a lot more impact in northern california, possibly along the oregon and washington state lines also. rather than southern california. scott wright, thank you very much for doing your work up there in the air. >> my pleasure, thank you. >> we'll be right back=e=e&&&&&&

stay with us all day on abc. the president speaking live in half an hour. we carry that live. >> be sure to watch "world news." have a great afternoon. abababababababababababababababab